Parma and Udinese share a goalless draw neither can afford to enjoy
A missed penalty and a flurry of late chances left Parma and Udinese level on points and short of answers in a Serie A relegation fight neither side is escaping soon.
Parma and Udinese drew 0-0 at the Stadio Ennio Tardini on Wednesday, a result that leaves both clubs on four points after eight rounds and deep in a relegation battle neither expected to be fighting this early, Football Italia reported.
Alberto Gilardino's run since replacing Carlos Cuesta stayed winless, with this stalemate following three straight defeats. Udinese arrived on a six-game losing streak of their own, leaving coach Kosta Runjaic under mounting pressure despite avoiding a seventh.
Field tilt tells one story, the scoreline another
The match statistics point firmly one way. Udinese had 58% of possession to Parma's 42%, and the shot count was even more lopsided: 20 attempts to eight, with five on target against Parma's two.
That gap matters because it measures territorial control, not just chance quality. Udinese's build-up play repeatedly pushed into Parma's half, using width from Hassane Kamara and Sascha Britschgi to stretch a home side set up in a compact low block.
Parma's defensive shape absorbed pressure rather than stepped out to meet it, which explains why so many of Udinese's attempts came from distance or deflections rather than clean, central openings. Nicolò Zaniolo's early curler, bent just past the far post, was the kind of chance a packed defence tends to concede: a shooting lane from outside rather than a breakdown through the middle.
Jesper Karlström's effort drilled off target and Kamara's low drive wide of the post fit the same pattern. Udinese generated volume without the decisive final touch, a gap between field tilt and goals that often defines games against sides defending deep and narrow.
Set piece chaos swings both ways
The game's defining sequence came from a corner. Maduka Okoye fumbled the delivery, Mariano Troilo's follow-up shot was blocked by James Abankwah's arm, and the referee pointed to the spot.
Adrián Bernabé stepped up, but Okoye parried the penalty away, turning his own earlier error into redemption. It was the kind of moment that shows why set piece defending cannot be judged purely on the first contact: a goalkeeper's recovery from a mistake carries as much weight as the mistake itself.
Parma had their own let-off at the other end. Jurgen Ekkelenkamp slid in from five yards to meet a cross and beat Giovanni Daffara, only for Troilo to scramble back and clear off the line. Daffara then denied Unai Gómez from point-blank range in stoppage time, two saves that mattered more to the final score than Parma's territorial passivity for most of the match.
Daffara's Serie A debut, forced by goalkeeping changes at Parma, produced exactly the kind of late interventions a struggling side needs from a new number one: not shot-stopping under sustained pressure, but reflex saves in the moments that decide points.
Managerial pressure builds on both touchlines
Neither coach can point to control of the game as evidence of progress. Gilardino's Parma defended for long spells without creating a clean sight of goal of their own, relying on the penalty award and a goalmouth scramble for their best chances rather than sustained attacking structure.
Runjaic's Udinese did enough in transition and wide areas to deserve more than a point, but the finishing numbers, five shots on target from twenty attempts, show why six straight defeats have not been reversed by a single better performance alone. Zaniolo's return to a starting role, after more than a month out, offers Udinese a more direct attacking outlet once his sharpness returns, but David Alaba, Oumar Solet, Alessandro Zanoli, Vakoun Bayo and Idrissa Gueye all remain unavailable, leaving Runjaic's options for change limited from the bench.
Parma's eight-game total of four points and Udinese's identical return leave both clubs rooted in the bottom reaches of Serie A with little margin for further winless runs. The next fixtures will tell whether Wednesday's chances created, and the ones missed, mark a turning point or simply another data point in two seasons heading the wrong way.